Discussion Paper

Lower Income Households’ Vulnerability to the Recent Commodity Price Surge

Abstract: In a previous post, I discussed the impact of changing commodity prices on the discretionary income of households and concluded that these effects generally were relatively modest except in cases of extreme swings in commodity prices. As many people know, there was a large surge in energy prices during the first quarter of 2011, and it appears to have had a significant effect on discretionary income and consumer spending. (See recent speeches by Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke and New York Fed President Dudley; for views outside the Fed, see FT Alphaville, Tim Duy, and James Hamilton.)

Keywords: income quintiles; Consumer Expenditure Survey; commodity prices; consumption; disposable income; low-income households;

JEL Classification: E2;

Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Part of Series: Liberty Street Economics

Publication Date: 2011-06-13

Number: 20110613